British driver Joshua Mason described his FIA Formula 2 debut with PHM Racing by Charouz as a ‘baptism by fire.
The 21-year-old, who has spent most of 2023 in Euroformula Open with the CryptoTower Racing Team, was called up to replace Brad Benevides in the days before Round 11 in Belgium.
Mason said each session had seen improvements on a wet weekend in Spa.
Posting his Twitter (if it’s still called that?) account, he said: “Each session has been quite the learning curve, but we saw improvements each day.”
Bit of a baptism by fire, stepping up to @Formula2 for a wet Spa weekend! ?
Started the week expecting to be watching F2 from home this weekend, then suddenly had 45 minutes of practice to learn the car pic.twitter.com/cqazdlsXEN
— Josh Mason (@joshmasonracing) July 30, 2023
Mason had just 45 minutes of wet practice to get to grips with the F2 car and the debutant spun off in qualifying with rain inbound.
The Briton’s Sprint Race got off to a bad start as the Birmingham-born driver stalled on the dummy grid and had to start from the pit lane, ending up last of the finishers.
Sunday was better for Mason, although he did spin behind the Safety Car, blaming teammate Roy Nissany over the radio.
Despite that incident, Mason finished the Feature Race 14th, which was won by Alpine Academy Driver Jack Doohan.
Image: Formula Motorsport Ltd
